Redemption's Path
by Soulhost
Summary: ON HIATUS - rewriting and trying to get everything figured out


_Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING FROM SOUL CALIBUR IV!!! …except for Sarah, Valen, Amilia, and Anyta!_

_A/N: OMG! A SOUL CALIBUR IV STORY!!! FINALLY!!! Something NOT Neverwinter Nights 2 :D and yes, I am STILL working on my other two stories…I'm just a little stumped on "Nature's Walk," but I have an idea for "Demon's Dreams" :3 and obviously this is a story with an ACTUAL OC! I am SO tired of the pairings and all!! WE NEED AN OC!! I MEAN, C'MON!! . also, everyone is gonna be a year older then they are in Soul Calibur IV and yes, I have a reason for it xD one more thing: I don't know what all the places were called back in the 16__th__ century .-. well, Germany I do know xD and I've never played Soul Edge/Soul Blade nor Soul Calibur, so…forgive me if I get the ages wrong xD anyways…so…yeah…enjoy :3_

----

"_Anyta! Get back here!" she called out, looking for her younger sister. She, once again, wandered out into the near by forest of their home in Athens. Usually she went to one place only, but she wasn't there; it worried her._

"_Sister! Over here!" a young voice cried out. She sighed and went to the familiar voice; she found her sister kneeled in front of a tree. The young child turned; her white eyes boring into her older sister's own white eyes. "Sarah! Come look!" her excited voice exclaimed._

_Sarah stared at Anyta curiously and walked over, but stop when she saw what her sister was admiring so much: it was a red shard from…something. "It's so pretty, Sarah! The same color as my favorite!" she exclaimed. She went to touch it, but her wrist was grabbed by her older sister._

"_Don't touch that! It doesn't feel right! It's unnatural! Let's go home before Mr. and Mrs. Judis worry," she said. She frowned at her sister and with a strength Sarah didn't think she had, ripped her wrist from her grip and suddenly picked up the shard._

_It suddenly glowed a brilliant red and it was pulsating. "Anyta! Drop it!" Sarah exclaimed. She didn't listen; she just stared at it as she traced it. "Anyta!"_

_She looked at her and her eyes widen in horror: her sister's white eyes were now a lavender color and she was covered in an evil aura. The young child grinned evilly and lunged at her sister._

----

**Eight years later…**

"Soul Edge? What does a girly like you want to know about the Hero's Sword?" the tavern keeper asked. She narrowed her white eyes as her princess-like hair laid flat against her back. "I just want to hear what rumors you have heard about it," her monotones voice answered. He stared at her wearily before grunting, "I've heard that the sword's owner, the Azure Knight, is back up and causing chaos. Long as he stays away from my tavern, I say let him do away with all the other bloody blokes."

She lightly scoffed and turned her back to the pathetic man. "Useless information, I have already heard _that_ rumor," she said then walked out of the glaring man's tavern.

She looked up at the sunny sky and narrowed her eyes; her deep blue, trimmed white Atalanta's skirt blowing softly in the window along with her hair. She adjusted the brace on her Atalanta's gloves; the only brace she had on her left arm then turned to adjust the yellow-orange ribbon on her other black glove. But she stared at it.

Others would have thought she was staring at it with no emotion, but looking closely, there was a sadness. She tightened the ribbon and adjusted her black, trimmed white shirt that went with her deep blue, trimmed white Atalanta's jacket.

After a small sigh, she walked further away from the tavern; she got glances from the townsfolk, mostly because of her small shield and small sword on her back, Dark Blade. Lately, more and more women have started to become warriors, but there were still too few. She was one of the few; she has trained hard under her instructor, Cassandra Alexandria, even though she was only fourteen at the time.

Her sister, Sophitia Alexandria, was eighteen and was gone because of some adventure; she was returned by a woman…she looked like a ninja and had taken out familiar shards from Sophitia's body. She was terrified by it and ran out in tears. Her best friend, Amilia Judis, was Sophitia's "student." Though Sophitia herself could hardly fight then but she did her best to teach her friend.

Time has passed during these long eight years and she, Sarah Anastasia, was now a harden warrior. And she had only one mission on her mind….

----

She stopped when she heard a sound; she was in the middle of the forest and it was dark. She scanned the area as best she could, but she could not find the source of the sound. She continued walking, but she did not drop her guard…

She grabbed her shield and sword and blocked the strike from a bandit; she narrowed her eyes at the fox masked woman as she jumped back next to her male companion. "Well, she has more talent then we gave her credit for," the male said.

"Underestimating me will be the last mistake you make," Sarah said calmly. It was impossible to tell, but she was sure that the female bandit was smirking behind her fox mask. "I highly doubt that! Now give us all your posse—"

_THWACK!_

The female bandit collapsed in a heap; the male bandit turned and glared at his companion's assaulter. "DIE!" He raised his dagger to strike but the newcomer collided the hilt of his zweihander into his stomach. He gasped for breath then passed out.

Sarah narrowed her eyes at the man who "saved her" and she put Dark Blade away. She studied him: long, blonde hair, piercing aquarium eyes, a scar down his right eye. His skin was rather tan, but not to the point of darkness. His armor is what caught her eye the most: it was covered in ice, or at least that's what it looked like. He had two, dark blue drapes behind him, "frozen" to his back and his zweihander…it, too, was of ice…

"That sword wouldn't happen to be Soul Calibur, would it?" she asked. Immediately, he casted a distrustful stare her way and she returned it. "So, seeking to destroy Soul Edge?" shed asked again.

"Turn your path away from that cursed blade; I mean to destroy it and no one will get in my pa---"

A cold chuckle from Sarah interrupted him and he glared at her. "I have no need for that pathetic blade or any blade that is _unnatural_," she provoked.

His glare intensified at her, "This blade is the only thing that can destroy that evil sword once and for all."

"Perhaps so, but I have a different goal in mind; destroy Soul Edge if you wish, it will save many other lives from being _possessed_ by it. The world would be better off," she said then turned, "and regarding the bandits: I will thank you for dealing with them both. But do not think again that I cannot take care of myself."

Her words wavered him a bit but his glare hardened at her back as she walked away from him.

----

So this was Ostrheinsburg Castle…

"_Hmph…I can still feel Soul Edge's evil in this place."_

Sarah walked down the empty streets of the long abandoned castle, trying to find the way into the inside, but luck wasn't on her side that day. It was impossible to find the way in and she was going frustrated with each step. With a heavy sigh, she leaned against the wall, and looked up at the sky. "Athena, please lend me your wisdom," she silently prayed…

_CREAK!_

"Hm?"

"AAAEEEIII!!!!"

The "wall" she leaned against was in fact a door and it was the door that she had been trying to find; unfortunately for her, the door had lost its battle with the extra weight (and it didn't help that only her heels kept her up while her back was against it) and swung right open, making the young warrior fall backwards.

With a groan, Sarah sat up and rubbed her aching back. "Figures, I pray to Athena and that happens; either she has a sense of humor or that's just my luck." She finally stood and brushed the old dust from her skirt, black Atalanta's stockings and her kunoichi boots. Sighing, she readjusted Dark Blade onto her back (since she had taken it off to lean against what she thought was a wall), and walked into the dark hall.

----

The first thing that came into her mind was…it smelled; mostly of rotting, rat carcasses and dust, but the inside was heavier with Soul Edge's energy. _Too_ heavy, perhaps. As far as she knew, the Azure Knight, Nightmare, hasn't been back into this castle for about five years. But from the rumors she's heard, Nightmare was defeated a year ago; but the Azure Knight has been spotted a couple of times from survivors…and that Soul Edge was once again scattered into shards. But the Azure Knight and Soul Edge was not what concerned her.

"_Hmph, but Soul Edge is connected…"_

She found a couple of old rooms; there was four that _reeked_ of Soul Edge. _"They must be where Nightmare's old servants had stayed."_ She walked to the closest one and opened the door; it was rather…feminine…must have been where Ivy had stayed back when she had served the Azure Knight. She opened old drawers, looked under the bed, everywhere and found no clues. _"I wouldn't be surprised if somebody else had cleaned this place out."_ She walked into a different room and there was…skin from a reptile everywhere; the beast known as Lizardman, this must have been his room. There wasn't a bed or a wardrobe, just a stack of…hay, to serve as his bed, probably. Well, she looked where she could and also found nothing; so she went to the next room. Once she opened it, immediately covered her nose; it smelled! _"Blood and rotting corpses, and…ugh, the stench of a male who hasn't _bathed_. Astaroth."_ The rumor she had heard as of late that the golem, Astaroth, now looked like he had crawled out of molten lava. The room that smelled so bad now must have been before that. There indeed was a bed, but not a wardrobe; she searched the room and she found nothing, except for a few skeletons and decaying corpses. She quickly exited the room and shut the door, finally letting her breath out, though she action did make her feel a tad light headed. She went to the next room and opened, but stopped dead when she saw something she did not expect: black feathers. And it was then that she finally felt the aura of Soul Edge.

"_How did I not sense it before?! I have to get out! The Azure Knight still lives here!"_

She ran faster then she thought she could, trying to get out; she hadn't realized had far she had gone from the door until now. She found her exit and she was almost there when…

They slammed shut.

She stopped in front of the door and banged her fist on it, but stopped as she felt like someone was behind her; she swallowed hard and turned around, grabbing Dark Blade and blocking an attack from a man's katar. Her eyes narrowed at him, he was…disgusting. He must have been old, but it seemed as if his body wasn't overly aged, or at least didn't _act_ like it was. His outfit…it was too disgusting to described, but the man had two katars in both hands.

She parried his katar off her shield and swung her blade at his stomach, but what he did shocked her: he rolled up, where his head met his feet, and _rolled_ away from danger. She fixed her stance and glared at this man. _"What _is_ he?! A servant of the Azure Knight?!"_ She didn't have time to question herself further as he came in for another attack…from the _ceiling_; a surprise yell escaped her lips and she rolled to the left as his left katar met a stone floor. _"I have to get out! More servants could come!"_

It has been eight years since Sarah has felt panic; eight years since she has felt fear and eight years since she has felt that she would die…

"EVIL SPIRIT," a familiar voice rang through Sarah's ears, "BEGONE!"

An explosion erupted before the man could attack Sarah again and, much to her relief, he retreated. The young warrior turned her eyes to the appearance of a ninja woman, the same one that had saved Sophitia's life. "Ms. Taki!" The woman looked at Sarah and walked up to her, offering a friendly hand. "Anastasia-san…I had thought you looked familiar," she said as she sized her up, "you've grown." "I wasn't going to remain as that child you knew back then," she said in her monotones voice. The ninja woman smirked then frowned, "Let us leave this evil place behind." "I couldn't agree more."

----

It had gotten dark when they arrived into the forest; Taki had decided to stay the night with Sarah, in case that man thought best to pursue her. "What were you doing in that evil place?" Taki asked. "I was looking for come clues, but I had stopped short when I had entered a room that was filled with black feathers," was her reply. The ninja gave a thoughtful look and said, "That must be the room of the Azure Knight's loyal servant, Tira." "Tira?" She responded with nod and Sarah let out a sigh of relief, she had feared it was somebody else. "Do you know any more of the Azure Knight's servants?" she asked. "The monstrosity, Astaroth, is back under his servitude and the man that had just attacked you, I recently found his name to be Voldo," she replied.

Sarah sighed and closed her eyes, "Any others?" "Yes, but I do not know the rest; I am still investigating them." She ran a gloved hand through her hair and opened her eyes only slightly, staring into the fire. "Anastasia-san, are you still looking for—" "Yes." Taki stared at the young woman and thought, _"She has changed; not the same child that I had met."_ "How is your—" "Its fine…I appreciate your concern, Ms. Taki, but," she stopped and closed her eyes, "it does act up from time to time, it was inside the castle, but other then that…its fine." Taki nodded and looked up at the moon, "You should rest, Anastasia-san; I will keep watch." Sarah looked at the older woman, about to speak up, but stopped herself; she knew how stubborn Taki was, she's _felt_ it first hand, so she nodded and lied down.


End file.
